Last month I told you about my initial experiences with
HuluPlus and Netflix to help me "cut
the cord." After I installed a network switch to get all my
hardware working over Ethernet smoothly, I subscribed to both services.

Once all that was working I called my cable company to cancel cable TV
and just retain Internet service. They made me an offer that included
basic cable, with 20 channels, and internet for about $10 more than it
would cost me for just Internet service. So I took them up on their
deal. The price matched their "introductory" price for new customers. Go
figure.

I had to remove the DVR from my home theater setup. I have my plasma TV
mounted on the wall, with two cables running up inside the wall to it.
The power cord, and one HDMI cord coming from my Receiver.

With the new setup I had to add two more cords... the coaxial cable from
the wall socket to the TV, and a set of RCA cables to get sound down
from the TV to my receiver, so all sound comes from a single source.

Once I got all this hardware setup and working... I let the TV scan for
channels. It found far more than the 20 channels I was told. Whatever. I
went through the TV's setup to put station labels on most of the
channels, and added the few worthwhile channels to "my favorites."

Next was to get my Harmony Remote to work with this new setup. It seemed
easier to just start over. So in the Harmoy web site I deleted all my
devices and then added them all back in and let it ask me how each item
was setup. I created three activities. One for regular
TV, one for the LG Blu-Ray player I use to stream content from my home
network, and one for the Panasonic Blu-Ray player that plays discs and
contains the apps for both Netflix and HuluPlus (Remember, the drive in
my LG player does not work anymore, which is why I have two Blu-Ray
players, but the LG is fantastic for playing content of my home
network).

All in all it took me about 2 hours to do all of this. I was pretty
tired by the time it was all over, but now I have a simple setup that
works.

How has it been working?

As you know from last month I dropped HuluPlus. Since I
used the Panasonic player because it had both Netflix and HuluPlus, I
decided to see if I could just use the LG player's Netflix app. At this
point I have to assume that the hardware vendors write the apps. The LG
app looked completely different from the Panasonic app. It was much
slicker in appearance. In fact, it reminded me of Apple's stuff. And
like Apple's stuff, it left out information for that slickness. Also, it
did a poor job of remembering where I left off when binge watching a TV
series. For example, I stop watching a show when the credits came on.
When I cam back to resume watching that series it wanted to show me
those credits. The Panasonic player just assumed I wanted the next
episode, which was correct. Plus the extra information about shows and
episode, I much prefer the Panasonic Neflix app. So I am still using two
Blu-Ray players.

Overall I am very happy with this setup. I still wish there was more
content on Netflix. My son and I started watching Castle (from season 1)
and that is not on Netflix. However, I showed him the first episode of
Life (with Damian Lewis), and he was hooked in only two episodes. We
will be watching that through its two seasons.

I am still thinking of getting a Roku or WDTV. I believe either one
could do a better job of providing more content to me, while handling
the streaming of my own files over my home network. It really comes down
to how much free vs. paid content those devices provide. I may have to
buy one with a very "forgiving" return policy... in case I don't like
it. Ideally, with a Roku or WDTV I would have one primary device for all
my streaming (local and Internet based), and one Blu-Ray player strictly
for Blu-Ray discs. The TV itself would be a backup for when I can't find
something elsewhere.

Conclusion

So far, the cord cutting experience is middling. I can't get everything
I want at a reasonable savings to cable. But it is good enough for now
because I am poor. Hopefully, the Internet will become a better and
better place to get all my video content at a reasonable, a la carte
price. That way I won't switch back to cable when my budget allows.